Sunday, October 12, 2008

Re-upped


Talk show hosts, journalists and sociology profs hunting for a thesis love to prattle on about the addictive qualities of the Internet. “It’s the crack cocaine of sex addiction”, “It’s human communication stripped of nuance” and of course ‘blah-blah-Foucault-blah-blah-Derrida-blah-blah”. Now sex and disaster keep the media in business, so it’s understandable that they ignore the real problem: musicoholism (I sense a thesis on the make – musicism might work better but it doesn’t sound as…well…sexy!)

I’ve got six hundred CD’s, three hundred records and as many tapes. Plus my computer (and it’s little bitch, the iPod) is crammed with thousands and thousands of mp3's. I own more music than I can possibly appreciate. Why? Because the idea that there is one great song that I haven’t heard (and cannot access in a heartbeat) is unbearable to me – like ignoring a ringing phone.

I started out on Audiogalaxy. For an inveterate taper, a cherry-picker of the good songs, this was a direct bulls-eye in the pleasure centre. (The beautifully-maintained Mod-Punk Archives added to the damage done exponentially by showing me that there were 100,000 brilliant unrecognized bands from the late 70’s and early 80’s to be scored). Withdrawal would be a euphemism for my pain when Audiogalxy got busted by the RIAA, even though P2P only made me buy more albums. I sampled Bearsahre, Kazaa and Winmx (only warming to bit torrents recently) till I found the Harder Stuff, Soulseek. Between Soulseek, and now Google Reader for mp3 blogs, I've become the Johnny Thunders of this particular affliction.

So, as Archie Andrews had to pass on his compulsion to say, “Molly on a trolley/Found a seat by golly" to someone far away, so I’ll spread the addiction to you. From Japan to New Zealand to Norway to South Africa MRML has already become a few people’s local supply. Damn you, pusherman. To make a bad thing worse, I offer you the purest of product: Shake Some Action. These ex-pen-sive boots are, indubitably, amongst the greatest compilations ever (sorry Nuggets, Killed By Death, D.I.Y., Songs We Taught Duran Duran etc. ).

Maybe Rhino will call me up to release my own punk-mod-power-pop comps called...Shrapnel (Or is that merely the delirium tremens of a musicoholic…)

Volume One covers the UK from 1979-1986 and is bursting with rushing guitars and big hooks. Highlights include the anthemic "Don't Let Go" by Seventeen (who later became the Alarm), The Keys jangle-punk monster "I Don't Wanna Cry" (album here), the pop-perfect "Don't Go" by the Donkeys ( album available here) and the belligerent but infectious "Ignore Me" by The Gas (more to come). A few imperfect songs, like the rote mod-isms of "There Must be Thousands" by The Quads, only make you let your guard down for 2:42 seconds or so till the next hit hits.

Download V. 1

10 comments:

  1. jeffen,

    Thanks for the fix. I was jonesin' somethin' fierce. I've been a musickoholic for many, many years. For at least the last three years, my daily need is 10 complete albums (I don't even count singles anymore, just do them as a little bump). That's over 1000 complete albums (vinyl record, cassette, or cd, I don't care) in the last three years alone. If it wasn't for pushers like yourself, I'd probably be out stealing musick right now. So once again, all I can say is thanks for the fix...oh, &, er, you got any more?

    Yes, I am a Musick Addict.

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  2. Oh, do I ever.

    But the next sweet,sweet batch is gonna cost ya...

    P.S. Thanks for the words - we musicaholics are a compulsive lot always believing a greater album is just out of earshot.

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  3. It's a downward spiral.
    Were all gonna end up on the street, surrounded by dirty turntable needles. Begging for a hit. An underground hit from the 80's, maybe.

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  4. "You suck!" Screams the junkie as he downloads more music.

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  5. A lot of lowly, junked-up beggars are gonna be hap-hap-happy pretty soon.

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  6. Great blog. Will definitely add it to my roster in the next day or two.

    By the way, I'd be insanely happy were you to get the links to the Invalids, and Dogs On Ice records working again. :)

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  7. I will re-up those singles(I lost all my Mass Mirror links a few months ago).

    Good to know that somebody noticed their absence.

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  8. Thanks for the download/upload. Bit restricted on cool music here in east coast NZ so blogs like this are a life send for this music junky. 20,000 trax and counting on my ipod, but still searching for that elusive high from that one killer track I don't know exists yet

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  9. Stuart

    From across the world you've summarized our shared dilemma

    Amen.

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  10. Awesome stuff. Hard to find set. Is there not a volume 2 or 3? Just wondering. This site rocks

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